New Media Europe 2015, Manchester – Day 2

Day 1 of New Media Europe 2015 ended in style with #UKPodAwards (the photo above). With all the brilliant talks during the first day, the bar was already high for the second day presenters. But before any of them even had a chance, Peter Billingham hit the floor and raised it even higher! It was 8:30 on a Sunday morning for God’s sake, but we were “happy!”

After a great intro by Peter, it was time for us to remember why Ugly never wins by

Phil Pallen

Brand strategist, Twitter expert, and the author of ‘Shut Up and Tweet‘ book, Phil Pallen, started by telling his story and how not getting a social media management internship led him to become a go-to expert on celebrity branding.

In the beginning of his presentation, Phil gave us a little treat. He told us we didn’t have to take notes as he already had prepared a cheat sheet for us in form of a PDF document we could download from [a link – I’m not sharing as he didn’t publicly tweeted it].

Well, I was convinced. Little did I know I had to “hand over my email address for the keys to his brain.” Made me feel tricked, but Did anybody die? No! So I got over it! (Jonathan Tilley’s words are still buzzing in my head).

Except for that, his talk was both inspiring and informative. He started by telling us about his branding process:

He went on and talk us through each phase with an example, which was quite nice.

Phil put a lot of emphasis on photography, but when you think about it, he’s so right to do so. Photos are much more attention grabbing than text, and doing that wrong can cost you the attention you’re trying to get.

Phil also talked about the importance of a brand’s identity and how it’s not just about a logo anymore. According to him, having various logo composition options, colour palette, icons for sub-brands, and complementary typography are just as important as having a great primary logo.

In terms of social media platforms, Phil’s message was pretty clear: Be great in three, not mediocre in all! Although I really love second part of Phil’s Twitter bio (If your baby is ugly, it’s my job to tell you), for me, this was his favourite quote:

Phil, if you ever read this, thank you for all the tips. I learned a lot from you. Oh, and by the way, what do you think?

He finished his session by giving away three copies of his book to three best questions attendees asked him on Twitter. New Media Europe 2015 continued in both rooms, and I made the mistake of switching to Room A.

Sharon Callix

Award winning social media coach and platinum expert author at Ezine Articles, Sharon Callix, took the stage in Room A for her talk “Discover Simple Steps to Get Clients Using Social Media.” After telling her success story, she started her talk by the promise of covering Twitter, Facebook, and Linkedin – yes, I thought it was too much too! “Be passionate” was Sharon’s tip for using social media and I don’t disagree. She also talked about her brand awareness strategies:

Find your tone of voice.

Create shareable content.

Never be boring.

Although the small amount of content created on Twitter during her talk (search 1, search 2) can be justified by the fact that you would’ve received a note in case you touched your phone (fortunately, nobody was sent to principle’s office), that wasn’t the only reason. Except for a few free tools she mentioned, that 45 minutes in Room A didn’t add anything to my knowledge – I’m not gonna name anyone, but I’m not alone on this! I might be the only one publicly saying so though!

I’m just being honest, because this is who I am.

By 11 a.m., in addition to running out of time midway through teaching “how to Facebook” and “how posting pictures you found off Google can improve [something for you],” we skipped many slides and Linkedin all together, and finished the session.

Paolo Fabrizio

Next up, on the same stage at New Media Europe 2015, was Paolo Fabrizio. An Italian social CRM expert with a clear message:

New Media > New Conversations > New Customer Era

Paolo talked about how social networks broke the rules of customer relationship management (CRM) and how brands need to make customer service a differentiator (not only battling on fares and discounts).

One of the interesting points Paolo touched in his speech was the fact that with any new media introduced to our daily life, the others never disappeared. Realising that there’s an overlay is really important when brands try to figure out their CRM strategies. For brands that are used to older media types, social networks can be really scary because conversations are public. This fact and not having control over it are the main reasons why many brands are reluctant to enter social media world.

Here are Paolo’s 7 tips on how to (re)win your customers:

Listen carefully to each of them.

Strive to exceed their expectations.

Constantly aim at improving overall customer satisfaction.

Learn from competitors (Do’s and Don’ts).

Leverage positive WOM (Word of Mouth).

Inform and engage customers.

Analyse results and be willing to change.

Paolo also talked about how brands should move up the ladder from being reactive in customer support to being proactive.

Paolo, if you ever read this, thank you for all the tips.

Amy Schmittauer

Amy Schmittauer at New Media Europe 2015

Next on stage in the other room at New Media Europe was, Amy Schmittauer, the founder of SavvySexySocial.com. She took the stage to talk about marketing in HD a.k.a YouTube marketing.

Although I use YouTube as a user a lot, I hardly create content for it. I’ve worked with clients who do – and probably will do too, and that’s how I thought I’d connect to Amy’s talk. Her talk was focused on YouTube – as one might have hoped – and not all over the place, but it did have tips for non-YouTubers such as me, as well – and that’s what I’d talk about here ’cause video still isn’t my thing.

In Amy’s speech, these three points stood out:

Consistency

Structured theme

Context of the platform

which can be adopted for any type of social media activity. Knowing your audience and their behaviour on each platform is something many brands overlook.

For me, one of the golden formulas in Amy’s talk was:

Keep giving your audience what they keep coming back for + Something unexpected and new every time to make them come back the next time.

She also talked about the power of predictive search and how it can help you answer people questions by looking at what they mostly search for.

Bonus tip: Amy’s tip on ‘introductions’ in video marketing. People don’t care who you are in the beginning if they found you off search because Google thought you have an answer their query; so don’t start by boring introductions.

Amy, if you ever read this, thank you for all the tips and keeping it classy!

New Media Europe 2015 continued after lunch with

Katrina Burrus, Ph.D., MCC

Katrina Burrus, Ph.D., MCC at New Media Europe 2015

Executive coach and author, Dr. Katrina Burrus, was the next presenter in Room A. With a proven track record in coaching global international leaders such as Nestle, United Bank of Switzerland, CERN, United Nations, and World Trade Organisation, Dr. Burrus took the stage to teach us about ‘content repurposing.’

Main part of Dr. Burrus’s talk was about how you can use one piece of content and after some adjustments, you can redistribute it. It was totally in line with David Shaw’s speech from Day 1 which was an emphasis on why good content is not enough and why distribution matters.

Basically, to summarise Dr. Burrus’s speech, you can create eBooks from quotes, or a book from your blog posts. You can turn podcasts into events, and tips into sellable mini-books.

Although for me this raises the issue of quality, it seems to be working for many people in marketing and many other industries. Plus, there’s literally no entry barrier for anyone to become a published author. I think continuing at this pace will leave us with more authors than readers in the years to come.

Dr. Burrus, if you ever read this, thank you for the tips.

After a surprise giveaway, where I won absolutely nothing (thanks to my mini business cards), it was time for last (but not just not the least, but one of the best) speeches of New Media Europe 2015 by the awesome

Chris Ducker

Chris Ducker at New Media Europe 2015

Proud Brit, serial entrepreneur, speaker, founder of Youpreneur, and author of ‘Virtual Freedom,’ Chris Ducker, took the stage for the closing keynote at New Media Europe 2015. His story was moving as well as inspirational. What he’d put himself through, and how he decided to change was really interesting and full of tips and points to learn.

Being an entrepreneur (based on his accomplishments, not self-titling), he started off by defining entrepreneurs: problem solvers. He talked a lot about the importance of originality with people in its centre.

Imitation is the highest form of flattery, but it still SUCKS!Chris Ducker

Although he talked about people being the centre of businesses and services, but he firmly believed we should never be afraid or ashamed of planning to profit. After all, the business should be sustainable to be able to service those people in the centre, right?

He even advised us to, whatever our price is, we have to #DoubleIt! Just like when you win $700 at Cups! You have to double it!

Saying that, he was focused on quality. Another great tip he had was to “market like a magnet:”

One other thing Chris really urged us to do was to get an accountability partner. Having someone pushing us and keeping us accountable in the push-needed-phases isn’t a bad idea. In a world where business is moving more and more from being B2C or B2B toward being P2P (all about people – again!), caring about people on a personal level, going that extra yard can make all the difference in the world.

All said, I don’t think my words can do justice about Chris’s talk. You either have to be there at one of his talks or keep reading his blog or listening to his podcasts.

Chris, if you ever read this, thank you for all the tips, motivation, and the selfie!

Unfortunately everything has to end, specially if it’s good, and after Chris’s keynote, it was time to finish New Media Europe 2015 with closing words from Mike and Izabela Russell.

New Media Europe 2015: Final Thoughts

Let’s just say it’s been a week, and I’m not shutting up about it; neither, I can wait for New Media Europe 2016! That’s a good sign, I think. I’d like to thank Mike and Izabela again for making it happen. Also all the speakers, the one’s I attenteded their speeches and also the ones I didn’t but talked to them in during the breaks.

Oh, and here’s a little analysis of the conversation on Twitter. I waited about a week to see if the conversation continues, and it did – sort of.

New Media Europe 2015 – Conversations on Twitter

See you guys at New Media Europe 2016 – which I hear is on and soon will be announced. By the way, you can listen to all talks from this year’s conference in your own time! Visit New Media Europe 2015 for more info.